17 October 2003
Rail passengers are forced to travel in 'intolerable conditions' on overcrowded trains and urgent action is needed to stop the situation from getting even worse, according to MPs.
A report from the Commons' transport select committee, published on October 15, was fiercely critical of the failure by train operating companies to deal with the problem of packed rush-hour trains, which it says is 'unacceptable'.
MPs accused rail managers of regarding overcrowding as inevitable, and said they needed to take the problem much more seriously. Their report said overcrowding was so bad it was not simply uncomfortable but 'positively frightening'.
MPs were equally scathing of monitoring arrangements, denouncing them as flawed for two reasons. The counts are based on averages across the whole of a company's franchise area, rather than examining particular routes; and they include cancelled services when calculating passenger capacity.
Anthony Smith, national director of the Rail Passengers' Council, said: 'At present, there is no way of knowing what the real picture is for many passengers because there is no nationwide system to monitor levels of overcrowding on specific trains.'
Committee chair Gwyneth Dunwoody made her anger clear. 'Why should we have adequate standards for transporting animals and astonishingly inadequate standards for humans?' she asked.
The report condemned as 'an excuse' claims that companies could not run trains that are longer than platforms due to restrictions by the Health and Safety Executive. MPs said the HSE had 'flatly denied this'.
They also expressed concerns that rolling stock could not be transferred to different parts of the network because of technical incompatibilities.
The report mentioned South West Trains and South Central, which both took delivery of new trains only to find that they could not enter service because the electricity supply was not powerful enough.
MPs have called for the Strategic Rail Authority, which awards and supervises franchises, to oversee the procurement of new stock.
An SRA spokeswoman told Public Finance the body was already moving in that direction. 'In all new franchise agreements, we will ask the companies how they will provide more trains for bottlenecks. This will enable a better understanding between the SRA and train operators.'
PFoct2003
